NEW DELHI, July 9: Overshadowed by the pro-India gathering, the pro-Khalistan rally in Toronto turned out to be a damp squib on Sunday with several members from the Indian community also assembling at the venue with the national flag.
A handful of pro-Khalistan supporters gathered outside the Indian consulate in Canada’s Toronto but they were severely outnumbered by members of the Indian community who waved the national flag and raised slogans like “Bharat Mata ki jai”, “Vande Mataram” and “Long Live India.”
The Khalistani group had posters of Sikhs For Justice leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in UK on June 18. Members of the Indian diaspora held a counter protest against pro-Khalistan supporters.
Earlier this month, the ‘Khalistan freedom rally’ poster had sparked outrage across India by calling India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma and Consul General in Toronto Apoorva Srivastava as “killers” of the Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
It came a month after Khalistanis, marking the 39th anniversary of Operation Blue Star, put up a tableau of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with blood on her clothes and a poster that read, “Revenge of attack on Shri Darbar Sahib.” India had summoned the Canadian envoy in New Delhi on Monday and issued a demarche over the increasing activities by pro-Khalistani elements in Canada.
(Manas Dasgupta)